Carr's legacy goes beyond football

ANN ARBOR -- To think Lloyd Carr would stand at the podium and retire after his final loss to Ohio State would ignore his history. He has too much respect for tradition to do anything so selfish.

"There will be a day to discuss that," the University of Michigan football coach said Saturday, "and this isn't it."

But Monday, at his weekly media conference, very well may be.

Whether then, or soon thereafter, the rampant speculation this week that Carr might be coaching his last game Saturday was akin to treating U.S. involvement in war as breaking news. The speculation is years old. Yes, of course, he has coached his last home game. His contractual restructuring during the offseason, which pays him bonuses he otherwise would not have received unless he coached in 2008, was designed to grease his move into retirement.

The game wasn't much of a celebration of his 13-year tenure as head coach, a 14-3 Ohio State win, and Carr's sixth loss in seven games against Buckeyes coaching nemesis Jim Tressel.

Forty-one minutes before kickoff, the teams pitted in a near-rumble at midfield, separated by a few coaches and game officials. It was the last argument mounted by Michigan's offense, which had its worse performance ever under Carr, and produced its fewest points against Ohio State since a 28-0 loss in 1962.

As bad as it was, Carr said the performance would have no bearing on his decision, which would seem to provide even more evidence his mind is made up.

Michigan athletic director Bill Martin said he has had discussions with Carr about the timing and nature of any announcement, but refused to disclose the substance of them, and said he does not know the final decision. He reiterated that Carr's retirement is entirely the coach's to determine, which is the proper payoff for running a clean program and producing one national title a decade ago.

Carr had nothing to say about his future. Players said it never was a topic of conversation last week, not even Saturday, the day a fan Internet site reported last week that Carr's announcement would come. Various columnists ran with the baseless rumor at that point, though they should have been wary of an unsubstantiated report citing anonymous sources which wouldn't meet the burden of publication in most of their own newspapers.

Including this one.

Nevertheless, Carr's retirement seems imminent -- it could be barely 24 hours away -- and Martin made it clear that he is not eager to replace either the football leader or the university figurehead.

"It's not only the program, but it's the institution, what Lloyd has meant to the university," Martin said. "He does so much for our hospitals, in terms of fund-raising, making his time available, that no one even knows about. He'll get a note from somebody who's got a second cousin in the hospital, and he'll go see that person in the hospital.

"He has raised money for Mott Children's Hospital. He's leading the campaign now for that. He is so intent on the graduation rates, on these kids' academics, and he always brings that up with them -- at every meeting."

Carr's first game in Michigan Stadium was a miraculous fourth-quarter rally over Virginia in 1995, and his last was a miraculously bad performance in which the Wolverines produced 91 yards and turned the three-and-out offensive series into artform. Michigan was so outplayed and outmanned, its best player was punter Zoltan Mesko.

This year's pursuit of perfection ended in imperfect symmetry, a 0-2 start, a 0-2 finish, and eight wins in between.

The disappointment for the seniors, who never beat Ohio State and had to play with a sore-armed Chad Henne and a hobbled Mike Hart, was palpable. As for Carr, he said the nature of competition always makes losing personal.